Wed 12.01 Josias' Testimony

Wed 12.01 Josias' Testimony 
I Cor 3:5-15

     What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 

   The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

    I headed Wednesday night to the home of my friend Josias Eyraud after spending an intense afternoon tourist-ing a litle and praying/journaling and listening for discernment. I was primed and ready for Him to move. Little did I know.
    I met Josias when I was still searching for an organization to be in France as a missionary. The Navigators only had short-term teams of a month each summer. I decided to try that to see what God would do. So a team of ladies and I headed to the Camp des Cimes in Grenoble where we worked with the children 11 or 12 and under. I had the 10 yr-old-boys. I enjoyed them but I roomed with the teenage boys.
    They spent all day with the adults in discipleship. Then in our free time we just hung out and connected. They were excited about an American. I connected best with Josias. I usually don't get around to his story because I also connected with David Braesch, somewhat, whom I joyfully got to lead to the Lord the last night of Camp.
   David and I were cool the whole time but Josias and I connected right away. Anyone who knows me well knows I like to tease and laugh and can take as well as I dish it out. Josias was the same. And he loved R&B so he never stopped making me sing or talking about all his African friends back in Paris. And when it came time to leave you could tell two things. He was sad to say goodbye...to the point of tears. And he was surprised by how he would miss our friendship.
  We left and maintained contact barely thru Facebook. David is in Engineering School far from Paris and could not meet. Josias had a baby in the Spring and then married the mother in the Fall. He picked me up at the station and we immediately fell back into our old friendship, picking up where we left off.
  He had his daughter Ana and her older sister, his step-daughter, all by himself until Eve his wife got home from work at almost 10pm. We fed the girls until then and chatted. He shared that he was proud, that I would be proud when I learned how he had connected with God...really for the first time.
   See, as we left Camp I tried to nudge him closer to God but he wasn't ready. he was mischievous and hard-headed. he even refused the Bible I offered at first as a gift. Today he said he only took it because it was a gift from me. I had forgotten all this. Today he said I told him one day he would find faith and need a bible. So that day came, with some help from God and a pushy director at another summer camp 3 years ago. She helped him get over his difficulty with the bible by suggesting a daily devotional.
     He made a commitment on his own to read the scripture from the devotional in his once-dusty gifted Bible EVERYDAY! He has been reading and growing for more than 2 years. He was so proud and happy! So was I. I didn't lead him to the Lord but I did plant a seed that someone else tilled while all along God was watering and caring for it!
  He said mostly he resisted because his christian parents always "expected" him to be christian. So he did the opposite of what we all wanted until his own hunger for God could no longer be denied. I had always prayed I would get a 2nd chance at Josias. Imagine my joy and surprise! This video is his story in his own words. Subtitles will follow when I get a chance to edit. But it is already powerful!